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| Skorba culture | |
|---|---|
| Name | Skorba culture |
| Period | Neolithic |
| Region | Malta |
| Dates | c. 4400–3800 BCE |
| Major sites | Ġgantija, Mnajdra, Ħaġar Qim, Tarxien |
| Preceded by | Għar Dalam culture |
| Followed by | Ġgantija phase |
Skorba culture The Skorba culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture of Malta identified through stratified deposits at Skorba Temples, Ġgantija Temples, Mnajdra Temples, Ħaġar Qim Temples and associated rural sites. Archaeologists such as Sir Themistocles Zammit, Carlo Taramelli, Gerald Strickland, David Trump, Brian H. Fowler and institutions including the National Museum of Archaeology (Malta), University of Malta, Society of Antiquaries of London, Royal Society have contributed to its study. Radiocarbon dates tied to work by Willard Libby, W. F. Libby, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, and laboratory programs at Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit and Leicester Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory have refined its chronology.
The Skorba phase is defined through stratigraphy at Skorba Temples and comparative assemblages at Għar Dalam Cave, Ta’ Ħaġrat Temples, Plaqet Hal Saflieni, Tarxien Hypogeum, and coastal sites like Qrendi. Excavators including John Davies Evans, David H. Trump, Anthony Bonanno, Clive Ruggles and teams from University of Cambridge and University of Oxford emphasized links with Neolithic cultures of Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, and the broader Mediterranean Neolithic tradition. Comparative studies reference pottery parallels with Stentinello culture, Castelluccio culture, Cardial Ware, and connections discussed by researchers at Institute of Archaeology (UCL).
Key sites yielding Skorba-phase deposits include the eponymous Skorba Temples on Mellieħa, the megalithic complexes of Ġgantija Temples on Gozo, Mnajdra Temples and Ħaġar Qim Temples on Qrendi, the funerary contexts at Ħal-Saflieni Hypogeum, settlement features at Tas-Silġ, and cave contexts in Għar Dalam. Fieldwork by teams from Society of Antiquaries of London, British School at Rome, Italian Archaeological Mission in Malta, Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (Malta) and private excavators like Temi Zammit produced stratigraphic sequences compared with sites in Sicily such as Piazza Armerina and Gela.
Radiocarbon-based frameworks established by researchers including Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Patrick Quinn, Colin Renfrew, Jacquetta Hawkes and laboratories at Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit place the Skorba phase roughly between c. 4400 and 3800 BCE, bridging early Neolithic arrivals from Sicily and the later Ġgantija phase. Chronological models reference cultural sequences proposed by D. Trump, R. S. Merrillees, J. Vinson, and synthesis works by Clive Ruggles and Anthony Bonanno.
Material assemblages include impressed and plain ware ceramics comparable to Stentinello pottery, polished stone adzes akin to types from Sicily, flint tools reminiscent of implements from Calabria, and imported obsidian traceable to Lipari and Pantelleria. Architectural evidence shows early megalithism prefiguring Ġgantija Temples and later Tarxien Temples architectures, with orthostats and rubble foundations paralleled in Sicily and Sardinia. Artefact studies by David H. Trump, John Davies Evans, Gunnar F. Pettersen, R. J. Demarco and curators at the National Museum of Archaeology (Malta) discuss parallels with the Cardium Pottery culture and lithic provenancing by teams at British Geological Survey.
Faunal and botanical remains from Skorba contexts studied by zooarchaeologists like N. A. Chadwick, Jane Evans, Sarah Maltby and palaeobotanists at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew indicate cereal cultivation, caprine herding, pig husbandry, and marine exploitation including fish and shellfish. Stable isotope work by John E. Reynolds and archaeobotanical analyses by Mark Robinson and teams at University of Cambridge corroborate agro-pastoral lifeways with maritime resource use similar to contemporaneous sites in Sicily and along the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Mortuary evidence from Ħal-Saflieni Hypogeum and ritual deposits at Mnajdra Temples and Ħaġar Qim Temples suggest emergent ritual specialization, ancestor veneration, and communal construction enterprises. Interpretations by Anthony Bonanno, David H. Trump, Clive Ruggles, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola and scholars at University of Malta explore social complexity, craft specialization visible in toolkits, and ritual sequences comparable to practices in Sicily and Sardinia.
Initial identification stems from excavations by Sir Themistocles Zammit and later detailed stratigraphic work by John Davies Evans and David H. Trump at Skorba Temples in the 1960s and 1970s, with radiocarbon sampling coordinated with laboratories such as Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit and dating programs influenced by Willard Libby. Subsequent surveys and conservation by Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (Malta), studies by Anthony Bonanno, and international collaborations with Università degli Studi di Roma and the British School at Rome expanded understanding of settlement patterns and material culture.
The Skorba phase is central to debates on Neolithic colonization of the central Mediterranean, maritime dispersal models championed by Colin Renfrew and challenged by coastal diffusion proponents associated with Graham Cunliffe and Jean Guilaine. Its role in the development of Maltese megalithism informs comparative studies linking Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the broader Mediterranean Neolithic network, cited in syntheses by Jacquetta Hawkes, Richard Bradley, Barry Cunliffe, David H. Trump and Clive Ruggles.
Category:Neolithic cultures